Traditional and Victorian Style
These instructions show you how I installed this picture rail molding on q kitchen brick wall.
I was only going to install it as an accent above the wainscoting, but it looked so nice after I painted the dark blue border below it that I extended it into the rest of the kitchen.
It’s very easy to install, and is a totally functional picture rail that you can hang pictures or other decor from.
Here’s how I did it.
[This is part of Our Kitchen Molding Makeover series.]
Materials Needed to Install This Picture Rail
PR-001
This picture rail is a bargain at $0.97/lf.
Pay close attention to how nice the resolution is on this molding. If your supplier does not carry a molding with lines this crisp, then go find one that does.
$0.97/lf (48 feet) = $46.56
Frieze Dimensions
I installed our picture rail molding so that the very top is 3-1/4″ below the bottom of the crown molding buildup.
I wouldn’t recommend you go any more than 4″ of frieze — the space between the bottom of the crown molding and the top of the picture rail molding, though you could make it less than that if you want.
But if you are going for a Victorian style design in your home, then you can make the picture rail height where ever you want, as there seems to be no hard and fast rule for its placement below the crown molding.
In fact, for Victorian designs you don’t even need a crown molding above. Most homes during that era had plaster walls, and so a picture rail molding was as much practical as decorative since you could not hammer nails into the plaster.
This frieze can be painted the molding color so that your crown will look larger than it actually is, or you can install a border paper in there, or you can do like we did — paint it an accent color.
How to Install the Picture Rail on the Brick Wall
Step 1 Cut Molding to Length and Test Fit
Our picture rail molding came in two, 8′ lengths, and so we had to join them in the middle of the wall.
I cut them to the exact lengths and then test fit them in place.
Yours truly test-fitting the picture rail molding.
Step 2 Drill Screw Holes in Molding
Drill screw holes in the molding where you want the concrete anchor screws to go through.
Step 3 Drill Screw Holes in Brick Wall
With the moldings held firmly in place, use a pencil to mark the center of the hole where you need to drill into the brick wall.
Important Drilling Note: Unless you have a hammer drill to make drilling into the brick easy, then try to drill into the mortar instead.
The picture below shows me trying to drill into the brick. I drilled for a long time with several sharp new bits, and barely made a dent in the brick.
I reoriented things a bit so I could drill into the mortar, otherwise I’d still be there today trying to drill into the brick.
Try to drill your holes into the mortar rather than the brick. Unless you have a hammer drill, then forget what I just said.
Step 4 Glue and Screw the Molding to the Wall
I wanted our picture rail molding to be firmly attached to the wall. So that if Jennifer wanted to hang something really heavy from it she could without fear of it crashing down during dinner.
To that end, I used lots of Loctite’s heavy-duty PL construction adhesive on the back of the molding, and then screwed it in place.
Don’t forget to counter-sink the screw holes. I filled them with spackling after I primed the molding.
Below The brick wall was pretty uneven, so I used lots and lots of construction adhesive to make sure it made contact with the uneven brick.
You can see how some squished out below the molding. That’s OK, just let it dry before cutting it out with a utility knife rather than smearing it all over before it sets.
Below That’s all there is to it. Now I’ll prime the whole thing white.
The picture rail rests on top of the pilasters.
Creating a Focal Point with Moldings and Color
The elaborate moldings on the brick wall were meant to be a focal point to help separate the dining area from the utility part of the kitchen.
Priming them white and then living with them for a few days helped us decide if we wanted a simple paint scheme or a more layered paint scheme.
At this point we were sure we wanted more color, so we looked through all of our historic home books again looking for color inspiration.
Living with all white moldings for a few days can help you decide if you want more color.
This paint scheme was our original vision for the dining room moldings.
Sure enough, after of few day of just white moldings, we knew we wanted more color.
After looking through all of our historic home books we knew we wanted to paint the wainscoting something other than white. And once we zeroed in on the works of Robert Adam, in particular his rooms in Osterley Park, we knew we were on the right track.
Below It didn’t take long once I put three coats of dark blue paint on the frieze before we knew we wanted the picture rail molding to continue around the room.
A paint scheme inspired by Robert Adam’s, The Temple of Pan, at Osterley Park.
So I set to work scribing installation lines on the wall.
A scribe block and #5 mechanical pencil helps with molding layout.
Below The first step was to cut a 45 degree miter to cut a cope joint out of that would fit on top of the molding in the above picture.
Below This cope joint should fit neatly on top of the installed picture rail.
Cope joints are not hard to cut, but make it easy on yourself and use a new saw blade.
Below I put lots of Liquid Nails adhesive on the back of the new picture rail and then nailed it in place with 18 gauge brad nails.
A few 18 gauge brad nails should do the trick.
Dissolving the Molding into the Cabinets
You have to do a lot of improvising when installing moldings in homes that were not thoughtfully designed for them.
Add to that my lack of foresight and you end up having to do what I did below — dissolve the moldings into the kitchen cabinets.
What’s worse, each cabinet was installed at a slightly different height from the others, making me custom fit each molding dissolve around both sides of each cabinet.
Read more about molding dissolves here: Molding Dissolves.
The Finished Picture Rail Molding
Now we never have to drill holes in the brick wall to hang pictures or plates or car bumpers again!
[Back to Our Kitchen Molding Makeover.]
We have an old house here in Tucson that has interior brick walls. Thank you for showing us how to add moldings to brick walls. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!
Sure thing Sue!
Hey I was just thinking of doing this in my home a few days ago a lo and behold I log on to your site and see this. My home has 10 foot ceilings in which a few rooms have 4 x 8 sheets of paneling installed. Where the 8 foot high sheet and the top 2 feet sheet meet there is just a 2 inch piece of flat stock to hide the seams so I had this idea to do a picture rail and do away with the flat stock. Thanks.
Hey Everett,
That sounds like a pretty good idea. It would be easy enough to do, so why not give it a shot!
Good luck.